Health Careers
Registered Nurse
Professional Activities
Registered nurses (RNs) care for patients and promote their physical, mental and social well being. The duties performed by RNs include: recording medical histories and symptoms, monitoring patient status and progress, assisting in performing diagnostic tests and analyzing the results, administering treatment and medications and helping with patients’ follow-up and rehabilitation. RNs also teach patients and their families how to manage their illnesses or injuries. This includes post-treatment home care needs such as diet and exercise programs and self administering medication and physical therapy.
Registered nurses have some of the most varied career choices and roles within health care, and make up the largest professional segment in terms of numbers. The activities of a registered nurse include patient care in all medical specialties, emergency care, forensic nursing, health maintenance and prevention, mental health, home health care, public health, community health education, school nursing, classroom and clinical teaching, research, planning, and administration.
Registered nurses can achieve positions of leadership and responsibility in profit and non-profit corporations and health care facilities, such as in hospitals, public health agencies, government agencies, and universities. For registered nurses who wish to pursue graduate study, career opportunities expand to include roles as nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, nurse anesthetists, nurse educators, and public health and health services administrators.
Places of employment in Alaska include field offices, community clinics and hospitals of various sizes, public schools, colleges, universities, and many more. In addition, many nurses travel throughout the state, the country, or even the world doing fieldwork or working as temporary staff members in hospitals.
Educational Requirements
- Graduation from high school with coursework in algebra, biology, and chemistry.
- Completion of an approved nursing program. Most nurses today earn either an associate degree in nursing or a bachelors degree nursing. Completion of an associate degree nursing program generally requires three years of study while the bachelors degree is usually completed in four to five years.
Academic Programs
The University of Alaska Anchorage School of Nursing offers an Associate degree nursing program and a Bachelors degree program in nursing. In addition, individuals who became Registered Nurses after completing an associate degree or a diploma program in nursing may complete the baccalaureate degree in the RN-->BS Nursing program; depending on prior college credit, the RN-->BS program requires from 3 to 6 semesters of study. RNs who hold a Bachelors degree in nursing may also pursue the Masters degree in nursing at the UAA School of Nursing in one of four specialty areas: Family Nurse Practitioner, Nursing Education, Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, or Health Care Administration. Completion of the Masters degree requires most students from two to three years of study.
For more information, contact:
University of Alaska Anchorage
School of Nursing
3211 Providence Drive
Anchorage, AK 99508
Phone: (907) 786-4550
Fax: (907) 786-4559
Email:
Web site: http://nursing.uaa.alaska.edu/
Contacts
State Contact:
Alaska Nurses Association
3701 East Tudor Road, Suite 208
Anchorage, AK 99507
Phone: (907) 274-0827
Fax: (907) 272-0292
Email:
Web site: http://www.aknurse.org/
National Contact:
American Nurses Association
8515 Georgia Avenue, Suite 400
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Phone: (301) 628-5000
Toll free: (800) 274-4262
Fax: (301) 628-5001
Web site: http://www.nursingworld.org
This page was last updated by Janice Troyer on June 23, 2008
